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Sunday, 3 October 2010

A page from New Dawn, a short lived fascist magazine published after the decline of the National Front (NF) paper Bulldog, but before White Noise, the NF music magazine that eventually led to the racist and fascist Blood and Honour movement under Ian Stuart and Nicky Crane. Here they review Songs of the Wolf (1984), the only known release by Above the Ruins, the band formed by Tony Wakeford on leaving Death in June. I talked about the personnel of the band in an earlier post. The point here is to emphasise how openly and directly Above the Ruins were identified with the fascist NF - the magazine clearly sees them as part of an organised attempt by fascist musicians to break out of the skinhead ghetto and address other youth subcultures (in this case, electronic post-punk). They also mention the NF fund raising LP, No Surrender, to which Above the Ruins contributed a track. 'Rock Against Communism' was a movement of fascist musicians that organised many fund raising gigs for the NF and later merged into Blood and Honour.

In later years Wakeford would claim that his next group, Sol Invictus, represented a clean break from his Nazi past - but it seems that the first Sol Invictus line-up had the same line-up as the openly fascist Above the Ruins. According to the entry for Above the Ruins on the Blood and Honour site 'United Skins'; "The line-up for this studio-project was Tony Wakeford, Ian Read, Gary Smith and Liz Grey. The band name derived from the Italian fascist guru Julius Evola, reflected contempory developments in the National Front and its splinter groups. Their album 'Songs Of The Wolf' was recorded in 1985, shelved, then unofficially released by "political organisations", and finally officially released by World Serpent."

The New Dawn article is full of the usual NF bullshit of the time about how the music scene is "controlled by Marxists" and welcomes a new type of band "who will speak out for Britain". The promotion for a forthcoming Above the Ruins gig (did it happen?) promises an "all-White band playing all-White music". Wakeford seems still to believe in some variation on the sort of Third Positionist politics he picked up back in the NF. Please bear this in mind the next time you are reading an interview with him where he goes on about his continuing 'love for British culture', his interest in 'Paganism' and (as the current crop of ultra-rightists like to put it) 'Eurocentrism'.

39 comments:

Clearly if Above The Ruins were gigging for Rock Against Communism or even just planning to do so, it seems unlikely that this was just a studio group as Wakeford seems to claim in some recent interviews where he's said it consisted of him, his girlfriend and the studio engineer on drums.

We do know that that the engineer/producer on the Above The Ruins recording for the No Surrender compilation was Mark Sutherland who also drummed for leading National Front band Skrewdriver. Since it sounds like different drummers on that recording and the album released by Above The Ruins, I think it is pretty safe to assume that Wakeford is either lying or telling a half-truth (which is not surprising given that he has a long record of lying and changing his story on all this stuff).

One of Wakeford's ex-girlfriends is said to be the sister of Patrick Harrington who was head of the official NF when Wakeford was in it. Nazi sources have claimed not only that Ian Read, Gary Smith and Liz Grey play on the Above The Ruins album, but that Patrick Harrington also appeared on this release (so it doesn't seem so unlikely that Harrington's sister Lorna - who has appeared on other recordings by Wakeford - is also featured). Rumour also has it that Douglas Pearce of Wakeford's old band Death In June guests on some of these recordings.

However you look at it Above The Ruins was packed full of Nazi slime, just like Sol Invictus. Given that Gary Smith and Ian Read have documented records as fascist activists (see old issues of Searchlight) and this actually coincides with their involvement with Sol Invictus, Wakeford's claims that this is a post-Nazi band could only be taken seriously by complete idiots or individuals who for nefarious reasons want to cover up for Wakeford and Sol Invictus.

Are you turned on by the likes of Stewart Home so much that you want to churn out derivative and dreary pointless prose like him? Or that fool Karl Blake who has launched his own pathetic jihad against those he used to work with? Or maybe you are one of the above, because who else would want to waste their time doing a blog about this? People like Wakeford were involved in the NF for a few years at the end of the '70s. So what? Now he has publicly denounced that brief period in his past, has a Jewish wife, a Zionist manager and two lesbians in his band. And a parrot. The thing is, it's plain that blogs like this are merely a personal vendetta, nothing more. A waste of time. You need to get out more. But if you're not a spurned Nazi wannabe like Home or a sad sack retard like Blake, then you're writing a load of old bollocks about someone you don't even know, which is even sillier. Presumably you'll get bored eventually. Why not grow some balls and write blogs about Genuine Threats To Civilisation (or whatever) — not middle-aged musicians who had a brief indiscretion 30 years ago.

I've nothing personal against anyone I've written about on this blog. I've never met them. But I think we owe it to their audience to unravel their bullshit, uncover those parts of their history that they prefer to leave unexplored, poke a hole in the self-generated bubble of pseudo-radicalism they hide behind, and expose the Fascist / Traditionalist / ultra-Rightist origins of their ideas. What they pass off as radical criticism of contemporary society is ignorant and unimaginative; what they propose as a solution is much worse. As they used to say in the 60s, "the kids are being hyped".

I love this idea that you have to know someone before you can criticise them. It's such transparently obvious bullshit. You wouldn't apply it to anyone else unless you were desperate to cover up for them too. These people put their shit into the public domain and ask to be taken seriously. If they think that what they produce should somehow at the same time be above criticism they are feeble minded. To some extent they even trade on such criticism since without it they wouldn't be able to kid their fans that they are aesthetically and ideologically 'close to the edge'. I mean if you earn your living making out that you are flying in the face of petty-minded public opinion, and swimming against the tide, you can hardly act shocked when you face criticism and public reaction. Not without looking like a prima donna, anyway.

"you want to churn out derivative and dreary pointless prose..."

You haven't earned the right to call my prose dreary since you haven't read it yet: your comment about Wakeford's involvement in the NF being "at the end of the 70s", proves as much. Please at least do me the courtesy of reading my dreary prose before pointing it out to everyone.

Another example of Anonymous not reading this blog is their blather about Wakeford's wife and band members. If they'd checked the links in the documents section of this blog they'd have found an article about gay Nazis (there are plenty of examples from Ernst Rohm to Martin Webster, Nicky Crane and Douglas Pearce). As for invoking Wakeford's wife, Strelnikov dealt with this when replying to a Troy Southgate comment on an earlier blog:

"Finally, I'm surprised that someone like yourself, who aspires to a degree at least of ideological sophistication, should raise the complete red herring concerning Wakeford's wife. For obvious reasons it is indeed uncommon for those with fascist sympathies to take a Jewish partner; but it is also far from unknown. What is more surprising is that Wakeford and his supporters should try to use the fact that his partner is Jewish as proof that he has broken with fascism when Wakeford chose as his best man for the ceremony a leading Strasserite/Nazi ideologist and activist (Richard Lawson). I mean, he really should have thought that one through."

Those who support the neo-folk Nazis sound like stuck records. The excuses they come up with to cover up for their idols aren't even arguments. The comment from anon is truly pathetic.

The (long since closed) Blood and Honour merchandising shop - Cutdown - in London's Carnaby Street, was run by Des Clarke from Skrewdriver and a Jewish businessman called Andrew Benjamin, aka Andrew St John. A violent Nazi (who'd served jail time for attacking a police officer) was happy to work with a Jew, and a Jew was happy to disseminate Nazi propaganda, so the excuses about "I've got a Jewish mate" etc simply don't wash.

Because the music produced by even lapsed Nazis continues to influence people, Strelnikov is totally right to say we owe it to their audiences to expose this crap, but if wankers like Tony Wakeford really have reformed, then fair enough, but the only way for them to deal with that is for them to be totally open about their past and to go public with detailed information about their knowledge of the Fascist scene, because of (not despite) the risks that entails - not only would the information be useful (assuming it's accurate) but their willingness to run the risk would be one measure of their sincerity in this respect

With regard to "Anonymous 11 Oct 2010 20:08:00". One of the better known examples of a fully paid up Nazi taking a Jewish lover is Martin Heidegger's stormy and drawn out affair with Hannah Arendt. Heidegger not only Nazified the German universities, he also unsuccessfully tried to become the spiritual leader of National Socialism, and thereby attempted to place himself above Hitler (who was political leader).

Also the description "Anonymous 11 Oct 2010 20:08:00" gives of Wakeford & co (Gary Smith, Ian Read etc. I presume) as "middle-aged musicians who had a brief indiscretion 30 years ago" papers over way too much. Wakeford has an involvement with fascist fixer Richard Lawson stretching over more than twenty years, and possibly amounting to as many as thirty so far, this is not a 'brief indiscretion'. Also let's remember that among other things Wakeford and Read (via his involvement with Lawson/Iona/Scorpion) were a part of the National Front faction that chummed up to a motley crew of Italian fascist terrorists who murdered scores of people. The fascist faction to which Wakeford belonged in the 1980s (and with which he still hangs out as part of an affinity group rather than a party - part of a conscious strategy to loose their Nazi image while remaining committed to the fascist path) sheltered these Italian bombers from justice by safe-housing them in London. There is blood on all their hands.

Likewise, Ian Read was still a visible fascist street activist in the 1990s, as documented in Searchlight. To the best of my knowledge, Gary Smith has never even tried to hide his ongoing involvement in fascist activism and even today is quite open about his Nazism.

It is also quite clear that Strelnikov comes at this from a different perspective to the other individuals mentioned in the comment I'm remarking on here. Of course it was Hitler in "Mein Kampf" who ranted about making even adversaries far removed from each other appear to belong to a single category since seeing a diverse array of opponents might lead the wavering masses to question whether the Nazis were right. I'm paraphrasing several paragraphs here but it is on page 108 of the translation I consulted. Strange that "Anonymous 11 Oct 2010 20:08:00" should choose to follow Hitler's line on this. Either they are a fascist themselves or an ignorant fool.

Anyone who can make arguments along the line of "he can't be Fascist because he's Gay", or "he can't be Fascist because he has Jewish friends" is basically declaring in public that they haven't got a clue about the history and reality of Fascism. Why would we listen to anything else you say if you immediately disqualify yourself by peddling such nonsense? You can't even be bothered to find out the most basic facts about Fascism and yet you want to lecture other people on their attitude toward it?

In other words, if you are a Fascist / "a friend of Tony Wakeford" / a "researcher into folk psychology" / a "free-thinking aesthete who thinks that anything is permitted as long as it's 'Art'", (or similar), please be warned that if you want to make any contribution at all here you need to raise your game, get your shit together and not peddle such obvious pish.

Maybe tomorrow I'll add an FAQ to the blog and make this one of the basic rules for contributors, so that in future we can just refer offenders to the rule rather than having to respond to such patent ignorance all over again.

Since Tony Wakeford's anonymous friend insists we talk about gay Nazis, take a look at the main Austrian fascist group of recent years the Freedom Party and the breakaway Alliance for the Future of Austria - and don't forget that their dead Führer Jörg Haider was the idol of neo-folk flake Albin Julius of Der Blutharsch (who used to be very close to Doug Pearce of Death In June).

Stefan Petzner (born 17 January 1981 in Lassnitz near Murau, Styria) is an Austrian politician. He is a member of the right-wing Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich, BZÖ). Petzner is a former beauty and fashion reporter and a student of journalism. In June 2006 Petzner and Martin Strutz were jointly appointed secretaries general of the BZÖ. Petzner directed the election campaigns in 2006 and 2008.

After Jörg Haider's death in a car accident on 11 October 2008, the party's executive committee nominated Petzner to succeed as party chairman. In an interview on the same day Petzner declared in tears that Jörg Haider was his "Lebensmensch", i.e. the "person of his life". From 12 October to 19 November 2008 he served as acting party chairman but was succeeded by Herbert Scheibner. Petzner concentrated on directing the party's election campaign in the State of Carinthia where, in March 2009, the party won a near-landslide victory taking over 45% of the vote.

On 19 October 2008, Petzner announced that he and Haider had been having "a relationship that went far beyond friendship" with the full knowledge of Haider's wife, Claudia. While Associated Press reported Petzner's comments as "Jörg and I were connected by something truly special. He was the man of my life ... I loved him as a best friend," the article was titled: Was Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider gay? Euronews titled: "Rumours of Joerg Haider’s secret gay life" and reports that “some say” Haider had died “after a furious row with the man who now claims to have been his lover.” Petzner's statements were criticized within the party as misleading and fit to be interpreted as insinuating a homosexual relationship between Haider and Petzner. His party's officials made a rushed attempt to limit the damage for the image of their far-Right group and banned several other interviews that were to appear..

Haider had never denied or confirmed the rumours about his sexuality, but he was often criticised for surrounding himself with young men in his political movement, which was nicknamed 'Haider's boys' party'.

Haider died of injuries from a car crash at Lambichl in Köttmannsdorf near Klagenfurt, in the state of Carinthia, in the early hours of 11 October 2008... Haider, who was on his way from Stadtkraemer, a gay bar in Klagenfurt, were he had been drinking and had been meeting a young man after having previously quarrelled with Stefan Petzner that same evening...

I have to agree with all the responses made to Anonymous here, and pose a simple question at the same time. Why would you want to defend Wakeford in this way? Unless you are in fact Wakeford (which would be very funny), or possibly a friend. Or maybe a fascist. Either way if you want to stick up for him for any reason at all, you really have to do better than that. Oh, and your "prose" is far from elegant. "Retard" indeed. What a disgusting word to use about anyone. Take a look at yourself and what you write before accusing anyone of having a "personal vendetta". The language you employ about Stewart Home and Karl Blake suggests to me that you have something very personal against them. Are you perhaps a hypocrite as well as a rather sad, confused fascist?As for Wakeford the arguments I would make about his being a closet fascist have been made very eloquently here so I don't feel the need to add to them, beyond saying keep up the excellent work you are doing here Strelnikov, whoever you may be.

Why defend Wakeford? I don't like Neo-Folk, and have no axe to grind. But I do know that he has erased any connection with his long-distant past and yet some people (generally hypocrites and ex-fellow-travellers) are using a bogus moral "outrage" to justify engaging in one-sided arguments about a non-issue that will interest no-one. it's clear that all the comments "against" me are written by the same person, so I'd read my original comment again if I were you. What's "dreary" about it all is the obvious personal vendetta gussied-up as a matter of public interest. I was in Housmans Bookshop in the mid-1990s when Stewart Home sold his neo-Nazi book and magazine collection, no doubt collected at the same time as he attempted to cozy-up to the occult nazi crowd by writing introductions to their lyric books. It would appear that they gave him the elbow, and now Home is engaged in a quite shamefully hypocritical campaign of slander against some of them. Well, Stewart, Karl et al . . . THEY'VE gotten over it; why can't YOU?

"Housmans Bookshop in the mid-1990s when Stewart Home sold his neo-Nazi book and magazine collection"

What you've revealed to the world here is the shocking news that Stewart Home first researched neo-Nazism before writing about it. I own a small collection of neo-Nazi, etc., books and magazines myself; I suppose that makes me too a crypto-Fascist. Or, if I eventually sell them, does it make me a hypocrite?

As for Home writing 'introductions to their lyric books', etc., I've read them, and If you can't tell when someone is so clearly taking the piss then I pity you. Only last week I found an interview by Home with Dave Tibet in which he says his releases are novelty records and the best comparison is the work of the Pork Dukes. I somehow think that if Home was desperately trying to suck up to the likes of Tibet he could have tried a bit harder.

However, since I suspect that you really only made your comment in order to provoke a response that would tell you if either Home or Karl Blake are involved in writing this blog, I'll put you out of your misery by telling you outright that they are not. Neither has contributed to it at all (unless they've made anonymous/pseudonymous comments), though I've obviously read Home's articles about Wakeford et al., on his blog and have shamelessly lifted some facts and arguments from him.

Still, since you are so agitated about Home's past contributions I'll quote what he said about them himself, in case you didn't understand it the last time around;

"Both Nazi scum and hardcore reformists who aim to channel activism toward electoral politics have serious problems with humour. In his leaflet 'Stewart Home: The Fascists' Flunkey', O'Hara reproduces 'my' introduction to Above Us The Sun as proof of his claim that I sycophantically idolise 'Tony Wakeford as a "genius" and a semi-divine figure'. The introduction to my book The Assault On Culture contains a critique of the notion of 'genius', and anyone familiar with my output knows that I have no time for this absurd construct. Likewise, Wakeford named his band Sol Invictus after the Pagan Mithraic cult, whereas virtually the entire introduction to Above Us The Sun, and not just those parts in quotes, is lifted from the work of the Christian 'philosopher' Søren Kierkegaard. Regardless of this, to describe as 'a genius' the author of lines such as 'don't rebel, you won't be thanked, you'll just be run over by a tank' and 'nothing changes, only gets worse, nothing changes, waiting for a hearse' is so obviously a joke it shouldn't need explaining."

Finally: "But I do know that he has erased any connection with his long-distant past"

Wrong again - Wakeford has only tried to erase the evidence of the connection. As has been pointed out before on this blog, the question is not whether he wants to be associated with his Nazi past (he very clearly does not) but rather the more vexed question of whether he still holds to some of the ideas.

@ Anonymous: I am not going to get into defending people for being anti-fascist, after all it seems an entirely admirable thing to do and therefore needs no defense - more power to their collective elbows, Home, Blake or anyone else who detests fascism and takes a stand against it, the writer of this blog for example.

What I will say is, if you really believe that Wakeford has changed his political beliefs take a look at Wakeford's Last FM Journal and the list of his favourite neofolk/martial/neoclassical - 2009, posted in April this year. Much of the usual dreary crap one would expect is there - I confess to disliking the music and having a limited knowledge of the scene but some names regularly associated with fascism are there - Von Thronstahl, Darkwood, Sinweldi, TriORE, Ianva and others.

Here are Von Thronstahl interviewed in Heathen Harvest:

"HH: What was the initial founding vision of Von Thronstahl?

JK: The idea of the REICH for Europe, or Europa, as I’d prefer to call it. The terminology is stated in the song HEIMATERDE MUTTERBODEN VATERLAND (native soil, mother soil, fatherland). It’s about the general idea of the Reich, of identity more as a feeling, an emotion than something concerned with parliaments or a supposed “democracy“.

HH: What is Von Thronstahl's enduring interest in the fascist era of European history?

JK: It is unquestionably a very interesting and diverse field. In terms of what is kind of appealing to me I would say that it is the honesty about it. The European nationalist movements were very frank and open about their beliefs and politics, which by no means can be said about the self-proclaimed “democratic” politicians.

"Henryk Vogel, the man behind Darkwood, comments: "the open end “In Ruins” is not just a state after the struggle of Europe but also a dark premonition of what is to come.… In the last song [In Ruinen], whispered vocals announce that there is to be a cultural resistance—which is necessary not only for Europe."For fascists, ‘a secret Europe’ is hidden in the interregnum, while the Europe of the ‘deadly’ liberal democratic order and of ‘homogenizing’ multicultural society, triumphs."

It is reasonable to ask, is it not, why someone like Wakeford, who has a history as a committed fascist and nows denies holding those beliefs any longer, would spend his time listening to fascist music and slyly encouraging others to listen to it as well?

"Many years ago I was a once a member of the National Front. It was probably the worse decision of my life and one I very much regret.

However, I have no connection with, sympathy for, or interest in those ideas nor have I had for around 20 years.

A number of friends and musicians whom I work with (including my wife of 8 years), my bass player, my percussionist and engineer/producer, would be at best discriminated against or at worse dead if a far-right party took power.

None of the artists I work with hold such views either, and I doubt they would want to work with me if they thought I did.

I am willing to discus this matter privately with friends and associates and with those who are genuinely interested in my music or wish to work with me.

However, this is the last public statement I plan to make on the subject. I am too fat to jump through hoops for people.

What's your problem: you can't read? or is it just that you can't be bothered to think? As has been pointed out many times before, here and elsewhere, Wakeford's statement is not good enough by a clear mile, because it is simply a way of trying to obscure the continuity of his ideas, and his toying with Fascist motifs, long after he ended his NF membership. He has never given an account of his time in the NF but he has continued to pursue the ideas he learned there. I note with interest, for example, that when one of his fans sent him a picture of the Italian Fascist Julius Evola on his Facebook account, Wakeford replies jokingly, with a nod and a wink ("How did you know I liked Leonard Cohen ;-)"). Fans like that understand what Wakeford's game is, and so do we. You, on the other hand, are happy to shamelessly parade your gullibility and stupidity in public.

Quite apart from that there's the fact that his arguments in his own defence are largely irrelevant. Eg., "A number of friends and musicians whom I work with (including my wife of 8 years)... would be at best discriminated against or at worse dead if a far-right party took power". Mussolini's lover, Margherita Sarfatti, was Jewish: do idiot's like yourself really believe that Mussolini therefore can't have been a Fascist? If you want to defend TW you are going to have to do a lot better than this old crap. If you can't be bothered to find out even the most basic facts about Fascism and its ideology you are probably better off not getting into the game of defending its followers

Doesn't anyone else find it at least extremely distasteful the way that Wakeford will use even his wife to provide cover for himself while still spouting the same old pap about 'Europa' and all the other guff he learned from the radical Right, who remain as anti-Semitic as ever?

Finally, fanboy, please note for future reference that anti-Fascism is not an 'extremist' philosophy. Only Libertarian dimwits and Fascists themselves argue otherwise.

You took the words out of my mouth. I question you so automatically I am a fool and a fanboy. The only people disagreeing with you are "libertarians, dimwits and fascists". How measured and level headed of you. Not the response of an extremist at all.

Calling an idiot and idiot is not extremism, just plain speaking. You are a 'fanboy' because you simply reproduce a statement by Wakeford, completely uncritically, just like a 'fan'. His word is good enough for you, and you don't need to think any further. It's all really quite straightforward.

@ Anonymous.What a bore you are. Posting Wakeford's feeble attempt to divert having to answer his critics is about as pointless an argument it is possible to make his defense. Anyone with the slightest interest in the subject has read this, and if they have a modicum of intelligence already dismissed it as nonsense. It has been clearly established that Wakeford lied constantly about his involvement with the National Front and far-right ideas, until he was outed and had to admit it. Even then he made excuses for himself rather than ever explain what it was about fascism that so appealed to him. He continues to use imagery and language that indicates his political beliefs have not changed. So why would anyone believe a word he says?You say you have no interest in neofolk and have no axe to grind, so why exactly are you defending Wakeford? If you want to explain exactly why anyone would believe him, and explain what your motives are for defending him you would actually be adding to the debate in a useful way. If you can't mange that then I suggest you cease to bore everyone stupid and piss off.

Well, "Eddie Chapman", it's not paranoid schizophrenia that's my problem — it's just that I have a life and you don't. Consequently I find your character easy to read. Although, I do find an urge to strip naked and birch myself for wasting time on this website. Is your audience into double figures yet? I doubt it!

Whilst agreeing with Jack Spots opinion [2nd November] of the “BEST IN NEOFOLK / MARTIAL / NEOCLASSICAL – 2009” list to be found on the Last.fm Tony Wakeford page, I think it only fair to point out that Wakeford isn’t responsible for this.

Unlike Facebook and (increasingly to a lesser degree) Myspace, Last.fm isn’t Artist/Band led, the pages are generated by the members listening habits and although a Band can subsequently claim “their” page (or even create one if it hadn’t already existed) they have far less control over the pages contents than on other networking sites.

As can be seen on any Last.fm page, the Shoutbox, Similar Artists, Recent Activity and Related Journals sections are constructed by the members and their listening habits and not by the bands themselves. With regards to the last of these, the Journals are virally generated within the Last.fm system by a combination of properties such as BBCode’s, Artist Connections and Scores, consequently linking to Band pages by their viral ranking within the system. This is why the list (made by a user called Coffinwood_Mill) is also found on other Band pages within the system.

@ Philip,My bad. I had a look at the site again and you're right, it was posted by someone called "Coffinwood- Mill" on Wakeford's page, and not by Wakeford himself. I have no wish to accuse him of something that he is not responsible for, aside from it being being on his Last.fm page.One could say however that if Wakeford is so keen to distance himself from his fascist "past" he could do worse than keeping fascists from posting Von Thronstahl and their ilk on pages in his name. But maybe I am being petty. It's quite possible that Wakeford is unaware of the post, or unable to remove it.The trouble is I can't help feeling that Wakeford likes to have it both ways - keeping fascist fans on board, while maintaining deniability at all times.Anyway, thanks for putting me straight.

I have found this from 2000 where Tony Wakeford sends a letter to American Renaissance (American Racist and Fascist/third positionist grouping) saying he wants nothing to do with Racist or Nationalist parties and that Sol Invictus do not want or encourage their support. http://www.scribd.com/doc/45695373/200012ar We all know that Above the Ruins were supported by people in the NF and therefore advertised them in the paper as they had done with Joy Division, The Stranglers, UK Subs etc and as TW had been in the party. The politics of ATR are quite clear but again this band was his immediate work during the time he was in and just after the NF. We all know that he left the NF and began a journey that, I think, has led out of those politics. Why would he be publically denouncing an organisation such as this if it was an area of support for him? This was over 10 years ago!

Either gooddodin doesn't get it or he is naive. Ian Stuart of Skrewdriver wrote to the British music press just before he and his group came out as openly NF denying they had anything to do with fascism, despite the fact he'd been seen having meetings in pubs with Young NF organiser Joe Pearce.

Wakeford is a noted liar - as has been demonstrated endlessly, even by those he works with, and most obviously over subjects such as his involvement with Above The Ruins - which he falsely denied for years. It is convenient for him not to be associated with racist and nationalist parties, but that doesn't mean he isn't a fascist. Just check out the ongoing lyrical content of his releases and the imagery he uses.

I think it is explained on this blog and elsewhere that denying they are racists and fascists (and thereby confusing the naive) has for years been a strategy of that part of the far-Right with Wakeford has a documented history. If Wakeford wanted to break with fascism then he'd need to come clean about his past, name names and adopted anti-racist and anti-fascist positions. He hasn't - it's the same old song, even down to the lies about what Wakeford is about.

Perhaps it's because he's been a part of one gang of fringe lunatics that he's not keen on "adopting" the stance of another group of fringe lunatics. But as someone about to be written off as a fanboy, what do I know, eh?

Hello? Wakeford has been a member of more than one group of fringe lunatics if you count the SWP as lunatics (while some viewing this blog won't see the SWP that way, it seems likely anonymous does). Wakeford was a paid up member of the SWP before he joined the NF. However, anonymous seems also to be implying more broadly that anti-fascists are a group of fringe lunatics, an opinion that looks rather ridiculous if you take into account world historical events of the twentieth-century such as the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Because of this, I'd see anonymous more as a scumbag than a fanboy - although it is possible anonymous is both; "his" comment doesn't contain any evidence for the latter, but does implicitly suggest this poster is male.

Parkers comparison between Ian Stuart contacting the mainstream music media and Wakeford contacting a fascists organisations own publication which is read mainly by small number of fascists is ridiculous. Wakeford is not trying to pretend to a wider public here he is communicating with an obscure fascist group saying he wants nothing to do with them. This is an example of the abusrdity of the mud throwing going on here. Yes Wakeford was in ATR and he may well have lied about it, did he do that because he was hiding his invovlement with an organisation he no longer wanted anything to do with and not because he wanted to convince people he was no longer a threat? I have heard many Fascists denounce him for publically spurning them and for not standing up for their politics. This could be because he is no longer a part of their politics!

Also why should he `come clean' to you lot? He would come clean to his friends and aquaintances but not to a group who would never believe anything he said.

Wakeford broke off links with his old fascist associates because he developed new allegiances on the radical right, not because he had abandoned fascism / traditionalist thinking.

No one with any sense would touch him with a bargepole until he comes clean about his old thinking and why he has rejected it. All the evidence is that he wants to distance himself from his past as an active fascist in order to 'clean up' his public image. There is plenty of evidence that he 'regrets' his past, but no evidence at all that he has changed much in terms of his beliefs.

If he really had abandoned fascism he would realise that he has a duty to explain why - not least of to those who bought his dismal records with their (sometimes explicit sometimes concealed) hymns to fascism and fascist thinkers. It seems that he prefers to play a double game. In any case, no genuine anti-fascist would trust him an inch until he makes a clean break with his past by explaining just what it is about it that he now rejects. Until that happens, the only reasonable conclusion is that he remains a fascist ideologue albeit one who prefers to keep his commitments quiet.

What I don't publish is posturing bullshit. If you have something to contribute to the debate, even if it is radically opposed to the position of the blog, it will get published. If, on the other hand, you try to submit abuse, bullshit, waffle, etc., it will get binned along with the rest of the crap.

You are not being 'gagged' - it's just that this site has a serious purpose, and any contribution that diverts from that purpose simply won't get published.

What is Fascist, and what is Anti-Fascist? That is the question. I don't think they ever abandoned their Nazi past. Because Nazi is your personality. So is Anti-Nazi is your personality. Those people and I'm talking about Neo-Folk musicians, they really can't help their personality being what it is. I know it from personal experience. I've talked to some of those people, I've been around those people, but I've never been one of those people. That's why I'll be anymimous here for now. Ask me, I'll tell you.

Kind of hard for Wakeford to be a diehard fascist when his wife is a Jewess. Tony also enjoys posting quotes by that disgusting mongrel Adorno that you cultural Marxists fancy so much. Maybe you should spend a couple minutes doing some fact checking? I guess that doesn't matter though considering you need to invent an invisible fascist army despite all the real problems in the world. Anyways, keep up the good work steering your slave morality fueled mind into the ghetto. You're doing the job the system wants you to do like the good little unconscious comrade your are.

"Demian' is obviously a complete moron, they talk about those doing this blog spending a couple of minutes doing fact checking, but it seems they didn't even bother reading through the earlier comments on this post, let me quote from one I placed above:

"Another example of Anonymous not reading this blog is their blather about Wakeford's wife and band members.... Strelnikov dealt with this when replying to a Troy Southgate comment on an earlier blog:

'Finally, I'm surprised that someone like yourself, who aspires to a degree at least of ideological sophistication, should raise the complete red herring concerning Wakeford's wife. For obvious reasons it is indeed uncommon for those with fascist sympathies to take a Jewish partner; but it is also far from unknown. What is more surprising is that Wakeford and his supporters should try to use the fact that his partner is Jewish as proof that he has broken with fascism when Wakeford chose as his best man for the ceremony a leading Strasserite/Nazi ideologist and activist (Richard Lawson). I mean, he really should have thought that one through.'

Those who support the neo-folk Nazis sound like stuck records. The excuses they come up with to cover up for their idols aren't even arguments. The comment from anon is truly pathetic."

And the comment from "Demian' is just a stupid - and whether or not they've taken their comment name from the pathetic "Emil Sinclair" AKA Herman Hesse Bildungsroman of that title, that book sucks just as much as they do. The evidence suggests that it is really difficult to be a Tony Wakeford fan unless you have no musical taste and are also either a fascist or really thick!

It's my 2nd post on your pages :I found your page via the KYPP Page, and feel interested that you are furthering Stewart Home's research on anarchism as a reactionary variant on far right nihilism. I find the link to be convincing and intriguing, and I am not sure why you have caused such a stir -- anyway can I ask, what are you proposing from here? If you are suggecting we tackle occultist right wing groups, I wonder how effective that is since there are not that many people that form coherent movements, are there?

Or -- are you suggesting we tackle the EDL ? The Salafis? The Wahabbis ? The right wing Zionists? The occupation? The rise of hatred of 'the other' in eastern Europe?

If I may say, I'd be very interested in your ( and your reeaders )reply and suggestions on where to take the struggle against fascism froim here.

Anonymous -of 4th of Feb - I hope will get a look-in here - although you must be aware that the owner seems to have a particular point of attention which although broad is not all-encompassing - I personally would hope that, wherever such similar prejudices occur - they are dealt with in an equally forceful way - I feel that you are ascribing things to Homes practise, however, that are designed to paint him into a corner...amongst other things a position of dispassionate self-interest - if you didn´t intend this I apologise - but that is how I read it.

Just because we cannot be all things to all men doesn´t then mean we should go to the opposite and do nothing because we are at risk of doling out preferential justice whilst missing some other perfectly worthy causes...

Strasserite... given that Otto was hated and pursued by the Nazis it's intellextually-lazy to suggest that a Strasserite is synonymous with a Nazi. But then I don't suspect anything remotely thoughftul from the likes of anti-fascist hypocrites and idiots who rage against Nazism and then defend porn with empty free speech rhetoric in spite of it epitomising capitalism and patriarchy at their most unconscionable. Extremists -left, right - are as immature and irrational as one another.